The Five of Diamonds
by amazing07
Summary: Never consider any one unworthy. Because you might wake up one day to realize that you have lost a diamond while you were too busy collecting stones. The story of five unlikely best friends. Jarly LuSam Maxie/Nikolas Scrubs
1. Meet The Five

**I own nothing.**

Carly Spencer is the single mother of three and the owner of the hit Metro-Court Hotel. Jason skipped town when he found out that Jake was really neither his nor Lucky's son. He was Ric's, but he didn't leave town without one last night with Carly, leaving her pregnant. She left Jax and moved on with her life, but everyone knows she still loves Jason. Even if they don't know who her youngest's father is.

Robin Scorpio-Drake is struggling through being a mom, a doctor, and a wife while dealing with her husband's infidelity. She knows Patrick loves her. She just can't trust him anymore.

Sam Spencer has a wonderful husband, but raising another woman's son is beginning to take its toll on the raven-haired beauty while she struggles through the difficult transition of adopting.

Maxie Jones has more than she ever hoped for in Nikolas Cassadine and their life together, but BJ's heart may not be enough to get her through the birth of their daughter.

And Nadine Crowell is hiding a secret from the love of her life, Johnny Zacchara. Only a handful of people know that the child she is carrying isn't Lucas Jones' child. Her baby belongs to her ex-lover Johnny, but he doesn't have a clue.

_Never consider any one unworthy. Because you might wake up one day to realize that you have lost a diamond while you were too busy collecting stones._

Chapter One

Port Charles, New York  
2011

The Metro-Court's restaurant was usually one of the most popular in town, but everyone knew to avoid that place like the plague before noon on Saturdays. Saturdays were the days that the self-proclaimed "Five of Diamonds" had their weekly breakfast to discuss their entangled lives out in the cobwebbed world of Port Charles.

It was a tradition over the past two years that each woman had come to look forward to attending. It was nice to have a centered table of friends to bounce ideas off of and discuss the things that truly mattered to them.

The group itself was an eclectic mix of women from every nook and cranny of the Port Charles social circle and family tree, but as it was, theses days it all came back to two families: the Spencers and the Cassadines.

Carly Spencer was always the first to arrive and the easiest to explain concerning the familial connection. She was a Spencer. The infamous Luke's niece and Bobbie's wild child that reeked havoc on Port Charles for over a decade before settling down in a comfortable niche that still allowed Carly to be the bad girl on occasion.

As the tall blonde walked into dining room, reading another contract, it was plain to see that the years had treated her well. As she now neared forty, Carly looked better than she had in years. Lainey Winters was helping her through most of her issues and with finding peace amongst enemies. Lainey had taught her to channel her anger into running, and Carly had plenty of anger.

Surprisingly, the single life agreed with her. She had found joy in the happiness of her children and her family. Carly was the happiest person at her mother's wedding to Noah Drake which brings us to the next member of the exclusive club to show up on Saturday mornings.

Robin Scorpio-Drake wasn't the most receptive to her new step-sister-in-law. It was a well known fact in Port Charles that their feud rivaled that of Scott Baldwin and Luke Spencer. Bobbie embraced both Patrick, Robin, and their son like children of her own, and seeing Carly with her own children and her mother softened Robin's heart. Without Jason around, their reasons for feuding seemed futile.

Running into the dining room, checking her pulse from her morning run, she plopped down in her seat and smiled at Carly's obliviousness of her arrival as she reviewed the contract before her.

Carly, Lucas, and Patrick had embraced siblinghood immediately which shouldn't have surprised Robin. After all, Jason and Sonny were both out of her life so she had no one to throw her loyalty and useless advice onto, and her two brothers took that spot gladly. Robin learned to accept her mistakes of the past, and so did Carly. Neither one of them were innocent in their feud. Robin just figured that realizing the mistakes of your youth was part of growing up, and truthfully she was glad to have someone as passionate as Carly in her corner.

"Carly, hi. Welcome to the world."

"Oh, hi, Robin. I'm just going over the contract for the new boutique manager. She's trying to swindle me."

"Really? Or are you trying to swindle her?" Robin asked, knowing the blonde a little too well.

"Carly's a Spencer. We scheme. We lie. It's what we do." The lyrical voice of the third woman to join the crowd forced Robin and Carly to turn around to see Sam Spencer holding the newest member of the Spencer clan: Laura-Lee. Laura-Lee had came all the way from China to be adopted by Lucky and Sam and come live with them and Cameron, and the transition hadn't been an easy one.

But the one-year-old had the entire clan around her pinky finger. Just the way Sam had wanted it to go, but her step-son Cameron was the one who was having none of it. His mother had lost full custody of the little boy almost two years ago, and sometimes he didn't understand why he nor his little half-brother Jake Lansing couldn't live with her like they used to. Not that he loved Sam or Lucky any less. Cam just knew that after Jake was born his stable home had become not-so-stable anymore, and he was putting that off onto Laura-Lee.

Of course, he couldn't be told any different either. Adopted or not, he was just like his daddy. Stubborn to a fault.

And nothing was ever easy for Sam. Of course, the biological parents of her little girl were beginning to have second thoughts. It was really hard time for both her and Lucky.

"Lemme see her!" demanded Carly, scooping her little cousin out of Sam's arms before looking back at Robin. "I might be trying to swindle her a little, but it's business. All's fair in business and war."

"I don't think that's how the saying goes, Carly." Robin laughed as Sam rolled her eyes at Carly's antics. Carly wasn't paying any attention to them though. She was busy making faces at Laura-Lee.

"Don't bother trying to explain something to Carly. It goes in one ear and out the other." Maxie said as she and the equally pregnant Nadine came in completing their group. Before brunch the two had attended a Yoga class for Moms-To-Be, attempting to keep their bodies in shape while six months pregnant. Their connection to the Spencers and the Cassadines were cut from the same cloth. Maxie's baby was a Cassadine and she was soon-to-be one herself. She and Nikolas were thrilled with their life together with Spencer and the little girl on the way. If only BJ's heart will last…

Nadine, on the other hand, has a more difficult story that only five people know about. Four of them were in this room while the other was Carly's brother, Lucas Jones. They were platonically living together and he had agreed to be her baby's father. As far as anyone knew, that baby was a Spencer.

Carly rolled her deep azure eyes, crinkling her nose and pursing her lips in a half-attempt to act annoyed. She motioned over her assistant, telling the nervous college student to safely take her cousin's baby to the playroom with her own 2 year old named Macy Jean Spencer. Her Uncle Luke was never as proud of her as he was the day she gave her daughter a Spencer name.

Almost made Carly change it, but the name stuck and little MJ was as much a spitfire as her mama.

"Oh, thank God." Maxie exhaled, practically throwing her Marc Jacobs bag into Robin's arms as she collapsed into her seat. "Yoga sucks. I so quit."

"You can't quit," Nadine countered, gingerly sitting her equally pregnant behind in her seat and sitting down her purse beside her. "Yoga does remarkable things that allow for an easier delivery. It also keeps you in shape and does amazing things for your complexion. And if I do recall, health is a major issue for you right now."

"Maxie! What issue? I thought Uncle Mac said you were fine," Robin sat up straighter knowing first hand how testy Maxie's heart could be.

"As far as he knows, she is." Nadine quipped, reading the menu. Carly, Sam, and Robin sent her confused and worried glances while Maxie herself was sending one more along the lines of sudden death.

"You got a big mouth, Crowell. Maybe I should return the favor and call up Johnny Zacchara…" Maxie turned on the other blond. Nadine looked aghast while Maxie held a smug look on her Tinkerbell-like features.

"You wouldn't do it, and you know it." Carly battled back unconcerned with the passing remarks of subterfuge.

"You calling my bluff, Spencer?"

"You know it, Jones." Carly smiled back with her own smug look as Maxie looked more along the lines of the annoyed and pissed off, but they all knew that was just Maxie.

0 to Bitch in 3.4 seconds.

"Ok, fine. I'm bluffing. Are you happy now?"

"Well, I am." Nadine said, before looking sympathetically at Robin. "How are things at home?"

"Nice subject change to the both of you." Robin said first, looking at Maxie and Nadine. "But things aren't so bad. Patrick moved back."

"That's great, babe, but are you ready for that?" Sam asked, placing her hand over Robin's. Sam knew first hand what it felt like to be betrayed like Robin had been, and she also knew what it felt like to be the betrayer. She just wanted to be sure her friend knew what she was getting into by allowing him back in her inner circle.

"He's sleeping on the couch, and I basically ignore him outside of our therapy sessions." Robin shrugged. "I just can't look at him without seeing him and Liz Webber…"

"Doing the horizontal tango?" Maxie bluntly threw in.

"Thanks, Maxie." Sam said, nudging the younger blonde. Carly looked at Robin intensely.

"I've definitely been where you are, Robin, and I know that you love your husband. My brother's an idiot, but he does love you, too. He just wasn't thinking with his head or his heart."

"He was thinking with the little head and made an ass out himself," Nadine said, her character-like bluntness not shocking the table at all. As innocent and naïve as she could be, Nadine was as equally abrasive and all about telling-it-like-it-is.

"I don't know. I know that he made the mistake, and I'm the one that is miserable." Robin said, and then she shrugged. "There's nothing I can do, but let him earn my trust back."

Carly smiled sympathetically at her while thinking…

_This meeting has officially started._


	2. Of Spies And Cassadines

**I still own nothing. Thanks for reading.**

Chapter Two

Luke Spencer slammed the phone down as he met another dead end. This was beginning to piss him off. He was friggin' Luke Spencer for crying out loud. People were supposed to respond to that name.

In the underground worlds of spies and Cassadines anyway.

How the hell was he supposed to get anything done if none of his contacts would return his call signals? Even the guy who smuggled his Cubans was ignoring him. The solution was simple. Something drastic had to be done to find out what was going on for him to be blacklisted.

He needed a famous Spencer plan.

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, what are you up to?" called the voice of an angel.

His angel, Laura. She had been cured from her catatonic state with the same miracle drug that brought another Spencer back to them by the name of Michael. Luke still figured that the only reason Sweet Caroline put up with Robert Scorpio's kid was part of some twisted promise to God if the drug worked. And it had, bringing home the two missing members of the Spencer clan.

"Ah, my angel. Just in time. I need a plan. You see--" He begin to point to a piece of paper on his cluttered desk at the newly reopened Luke's as Laura shook her head with a vengeance, trying to shut him up.

"Just in time for what, Luke? No one needs one of your hair brained schemes."

"I'm a Spencer, Laura. We have plans, not 'hair brained schemes' and I need a plan so I can find out why all my contacts won't get in touch with me. That could be a sign of danger lurking around good ol' Port Chuck, you know?"

"Danger? Really, Luke?" She asked in a very sarcastic voice.

"Well, probably not. To be honest, I'm more concerned that my guy who transports my Cubans won't call me back more than anything. I'm running low."

"But it could be something?"

"Well, yeah. I haven't had anyone check in with me about the vampires in about two weeks."

"LUKE."

"I'm excluding Prince Nikky, of course, and Natasha. I refuse to believe Samantha even is a vampire Cassadine. That would be like … crossing species or something for poor Cowboy."

********************************************

Jason Morgan left the sweetness of his dreams to witness another beautiful sunrise in South Africa, taking his leave almost three years ago from the people he loved in Port Charles to try and find himself again in the place he had read to Michael about when he was a baby. He tried not to think of Michael. He had not spoken to anyone since he had left. Michael could've died or gotten worse, and Jason wouldn't even know it.

In fact, Jason spent his entire life trying not to think of those he left behind. A long time ago, he couldn't see the 'what-ifs' of life and now that was all he could think about.

He thought about what if Jake had been his son. What if he had forgiven Carly for sleeping with Sonny. What if he had been Michael's father. What if Jason Quartermaine had never gotten in that car with AJ. All he thought about was what if, and it was killing him.

Mostly he thought about that night he left and where he'd spent it.

Sleeping with Carly hadn't been on his agenda, but he knew he couldn't leave Port Charles behind without seeing her one last time. It was probably a mistake, and Carly would probably never forgive him for leaving her asleep, but he couldn't have left if those big blues had been watching him.

He had never been good at leaving her. In Jason's life, it had been only her and never her for so long he didn't know if he truly could function on his own. The shock of losing Jake to Ric though had staggered him. Losing a son for a second time to another man had hurt Jason to the bone, and he knew he had to leave to get his head on straight.

She had loved him in a way no one else had before as their bodies said words their mouths didn't know the language of anymore. At least when it came to each other. And then when she woke up… Jason had been long gone.

It had been almost three years, and he could still taste her.

Sighing as he collected his thoughts, Jason figured maybe it was time to go home … go home to Carly.

*********************************************

"Lucy, I'm home!" Nadine said in a Ricky Ricardo voice as she juggled her purse, her gym bag, and three sacks of groceries as she came in the door of the apartment she shared with her soon-to-be baby's faux-daddy, Lucas Jones.

"You are no longer allowed to watch TV Land, okay?" Lucas told her as he swooped in and saved the floor from unwillingly scrambled eggs.

"No fair. The baby likes it."

"I'm sure he does. So … how was brunch with the girls? My sister on her best behavior?"

"Carly owns the place. She could throw water balloons in the lobby and all the concierge could do was close his eyes on impact."

"I'll take that as a no. What happened?"

"Well, you know that Patrick slept with that skanky Elizabeth Webber, and Robin caught him mid-thrust… in their bed … on the anniversary of the day he proposed, right?"

"Yes, I know all of this. He's my step-brother. Moving on…what happened today at brunch?"

"Well, we got on the subject, and we're discussing it. Out of nowhere Sam, Robin, Maxie, and Carly are having a heated discussion about women who sleep with married men and vice versa, and then poor Robin says she doesn't see how anyone could sleep with someone besides their spouse."

"Oh, I get it. My promiscuous sister and my equally promiscuous cousin and cousin-in-law are trying to defend themselves despite the fact Robin was speaking about hypothetical situations and her own experiences."

"Exactly. It got a little out of hand."

"How out of hand?"

"Let's just say that I'm glad Carly owns the place, or we'd be facing one major cleaning bill." Nadine shrugged and Lucas laughed.

"I'll bet Hurricane Carly's raving about that."

"Don't you know it," Nadine said as she looked at her ringing cell phone. Johnny Zacchara, the true father of her unborn son and her former lover. Loving Johnny had never been an issue. It was everything that came along with loving him that had her passing their son off as the next Spencer, and after what had happened to Michael Corinthos and even Johnny himself as a small boy, who could blame her for that?

Especially with Anthony Z for a grandpa.

*********************************************

"Mom, what the hell happened in here?" asked the nearly sixteen Michael Corinthos III as he sauntered up to his mother dictating duties to several maids in the destroyed Metro-Court dining room. His ginger hair had faded to rust, and his one-time baby face looked back at her with the strong jaw shared by the Quartermaine men and the same piercing eyes that stared at her in the mirror. His height rivaled Lucky's, and he was still growing into a man any woman would be proud to call her son.

Carly flung herself around to glare at him with her hands on her slim hips.

"Watch your mouth, Mr. Man. I didn't raise you to curse at your mother."

Michael rolled his eyes before waving his hand to return her attention at the task at hand, ignoring the cheap shots he knew other teenagers would take at a mother with a past like Carly's. Normal teenagers, but after living the life he had, Michael was anything but ordinary.

"Brunch got a little out of hand," She shrugged.

"That's why five volatile women shouldn't be best friends.""No, that's why we should."

***********************************************

Staring out over the railings of her lavish yacht, Helena Cassadine laughed haughtily as she thought of the plan she had in store for the Spencer trash and the rest of his clan, ungrateful Natasha and her brood, and ineffectual Nikolas with his half-breed children.

Her return to Port Charles would be well worth the wait.


	3. Spencer Family Emergency

**I still own nothing. I'm just good like that. Reviews make me warm and fuzzy inside. Thanks for checking out my delve in GH la-la land.**

Chapter Three

To be honest, Robin wanted to forgive her husband and forget his indiscretion had ever transpired. She had tried and tried not to see his mistake when she looked into his eyes and his soul, but so far, it was impossible.

In fact, the whole thing haunted her day in and day out, lingering on every happy memory she tried to make with her son or at work.

She knew as she put on her stethoscope, closing her locker door for the Saturday 3 - 11 shift. Here goes facing another night at GH working with her estranged husband. Good luck, Scorpio-Drake!

"Dr. Scorpio, glad you could join us," commented Epiphany as she glanced at the clock seeing that Robin was 10 minutes late. Robin bit back a comment, thinking that she'd been spending too much time with her step-sister-in-law to ever think to take on Nurse Johnson.

"Any consults for me?" She questions instead not seeing her husband coming up behind her.

"No, I think you've got bigger fish to fry. Dr. Drake." Epiphany acknowledged, leaving the nurse's station with a chart of her own as Robin turned around to look at Patrick.

"I didn't see you this morning before you left. Robby's with Bobbie and my dad." He told her, trying to see some sign of forgiveness or even acceptance in her brown eyes. Robin stared back at his handsome face, wondering how someone so beautiful inside and out could be so capable of hurting the woman he loved.

"I stopped by and spoke with Noah and Bobbie on my way in to work." She said, biting her lip. Nervousness had never been a part of her relationship with Patrick, and now that all it seemed to be.

And she hated it.

"Can we talk? Privately?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go to the locker room. Everyone has changed shifts by now."

*************************************

"Are you sure?" Nikolas asked once again into his phone as he sat at his desk with Maxie lounging on the couch reading a fashion magazine at Wyndemere. His repetition was beginning to bug the shit out of very-pregnant, very-moody Maxie. There was only so much she could take from one conversation and his sitting there repeating the same question over and over again was grating on her nerves.

Especially since it was probably about some boring business thing to start with.

"I mean, you are absolutely positive?" Nikolas asked, and Maxie flung down the magazine and stood to stare at her fiancé with her hands on her hips with her baby belly sticking out way in front of her, signifying the growth of their baby girl. His dark eyes met her light ones, and he made the motion for one more minute. She huffed and he abruptly hung up the phone.

"What the hell has your panties in a bunch?"

Nikolas looked at her like she was crazy, and Maxie had to remember that he still wasn't acquainted with all the American sayings most people know.

"I mean, what has you so upset?" Maxie said, her moods shifting from annoyed to concerned. Nikolas hardly noticed as he crossed the room, guiding her back on to the couch as he sat behind her. She was prone to change her mood even more than usual since she had become pregnant, but he just shrugged it off. His large hand hovered over her stomach before taking the swell of it in his hand and laying his face against her shoulder blade.

God, how he loved this devil of a woman.

"Nikolas! You haven't answered me yet." She reminded gently, falling into his touch.

"I don't want you to worry, sweet girl."

She laughed heartily turning to look at him.

"Number One: I am not sweet, and two: we are in this together. Tell me. I'll be fine. Scout's honor."

"Somehow, I doubt you were a girl scout."

"Nikolas, just tell me."

"My grandmother's yacht has been spotted mid-Atlantic, heading this way."

"That's bad, right? Luke's gonna freak!"

*****************************************

Sam Spencer sat comfortably on the couch in the home she shared with her husband, her daughter, and her step-son, listening to her daughter coo in her sleep as Cameron played video games in his room upstairs. Life was pretty much perfect at the moment.

Or at least, as perfect as it was going to get for Sam.

A knock on the door threw her out of the corners of her mind and returned her to present day and time. Looking up at the door, she saw her mother, Alexis Davis-Corinthos. There was also her two little sisters, Molly and Kristina, as well as Sonny's son, Morgan. She waved them in with a finger at her lips for them to be quiet because the baby was asleep.

It was still a little weird for her mother to be married to the father of her first daughter, but they were working it out the best way they knew how which was pushing through. Family was everything. Sometimes you just had to roll with the punches.

Especially in the extended Spencer/Cassadine Clan.

"What's up?" Sam smiled at Alexis as the three kids ran upstairs to play with Cameron. Alexis took a seat beside her oldest after brushing a hand over her beautiful granddaughter's forehead. She was so proud that Sam finally had her family. It helped heal her heart for the granddaughter she hadn't knew existed until it was too late.

"Nikolas called me earlier. He has reliable information that Helena's on her way to Port Charles."

"Oh, my God." Sam was taken back for a second. "Does Luke know? What about Lucky?"

"I came to tell you we are all meeting at The Haunted Star tonight at seven. Be there. Bring the kids."

"Who is 'we'?"

Alexis scoffed at her daughter like it was obvious.

"The Spencers and the Cassadines, of course."

"What about Sonny? Did you tell him? How'd you get away from the guards?"

"He doesn't know, and he won't. I've always kept him separate from Helena, and I intend to keep that up. Max and Milo are outside, and don't worry. I'm Alexis Davis-Corinthos. I'll take care of the guards when the time is right."

******************************************

"Hey, where are you two hooligans heading?" Luke asked as he wrapped an arm around both Robin and Patrick as they were on their way to talk about their marriage.

"We're in the middle of something, Luke. Can we get back to you?" Robin asked gently.

"Nope, you two will have to postpone make-up sex for a little while. Better go tell that grouchy Doc Ford y'all are taking off for the evening. We have a Spencer family emergency on our hands!"


	4. Pack Your Bags

**Thanks for all the feedback! You guys rock!**

Chapter Four

The Haunted Star usually was filled with raucous laughter, the stench of Cuban cigars, and fat businessmen with even fatter wallets, and that was the way Luke liked his casino. However, tonight was an entirely different story. He stood behind the bar, arms crossed and mouth pursed at the downright disgrace of Cowboy setting up a playpen in the middle of his damn casino.

He didn't care if little Laura-Lee did need a place to play. She could do it somewhere besides in a damn Fisher-Price playpen right next to his craps table.

Caroline was no help at all either. She just came right in and plopped MJ down beside her cousin and sent Morgan into the backroom with Cameron, Spencer, Robbie, Molly, and Kristina. As an ex-mob moll, she should know the importance of a respectable casino.

No, she just goes over to Barbara Jean with Michael swaggering behind her, looking more like his uncle Jason than any of the Spencers or even his biological father AJ every day. Luke shook his head and slammed down his scotch.

When had he traded in his days as a member of the Rat Pack for the Brat Pack?

"I thought Monica said no more booze," Lesley-Lu Spencer-Spinelli asked as she walked in with her laptop-toting husband latched to her side. Luke snorted before looking to both sides for his wife.

"Don't tell your mother."

"I won't…if you tell me what's going on? I mean, a Spencer/Cassadine meeting?" Lulu incredulously questioned her old man as Spinelli leaned in close to the father/daughter duo.

"My Blonde One has a right to meddle. The Goddess Mother ditched Bench Press and his muscled brother to be in attendance without the Godfather's knowledge. That, alone, alerts me of probable danger for the Spencer/Cassadine familial members." Spinelli rattled off.

Luke looked to his daughter for a brief translation.

"Alexis ditched Max and Milo. She, apparently, doesn't want Sonny in the loop."

"Ah, Natasha ditched her shadows. I'd kill to be a fly on the wall when that stunt blows up in her face."

"There's Lucas and Nadine. Aunt Bobbie, Noah, Carly, Michael, Mom, Lucky, Sam, Alexis, Nikolas and Maxie are all present and accounted for, Dad. Patrick and Robin are even here. Can we get started on why the hell you wanted us all here tonight?" Lulu blurted out, hand on her hip mirroring her mother twenty-five years previous.

Everyone in the crowded room filled to the brim with the extended members of the Spencer/Cassadine family silenced and turned to the Spencer patriarch himself, waiting as patiently as Spencers and Cassadines were capable of for the inevitable explosion of news that could and would rock their worlds.

Of that … they were sure. Spencers and Cassadines didn't plan covert meetings every Saturday night.

Especially Luke who loved to wander between Luke's and The Haunted Star and see the money rolling in.

"Maybe I should start." Nikolas stood up from the table where his pregnant fiancée and other various members of his family sat. Looking around the room, he knew that what he was about to say would change the lives of everyone in this room, and he wasn't happy about it. Selfishly, he thought his plate was full enough without the added threat of his grandmother's return.

"Go ahead," Alexis softly said, and he sent her a grim smile before looking back out into the faces of his nearest and dearest.

"Grandmother's yacht is heading toward Port Charles as we speak."

The sound of voices drowned out Nikolas' thoughts as he was bombarded with questions from the floor. Maxie stood, stomped her foot, and turned to the crowd.

"SHUT UP! Can't you see he isn't finished?" Immediately, the room quietened at the feisty blonde's request, and Nikolas was once again back in the spotlight.

"No one is talking to Luke. He has had no reports whatsoever which is unusual."

"Highly unusual. People like to keep me in the know in the underground world," Luke proudly said, causing several snorts across the room. Carly and Noah nearly fell out of their seats containing their laughter, earning a hard look from Bobbie.

Patrick looked at his estranged wife, and as she met his gaze, he suddenly didn't feel so estranged. She was sharing an amused look with him while they both wondered why the hell they were required at this 'meeting'. They were barely considered members of the Spencer family by the outside world and had nothing to do with the ridiculous feud between the two families.

"Anyway, one of my contacts within Grandmother's staff was finally able to get word to my European second. She's on her way to Port Charles, and Helena returning to Port Charles is never a good thing for either of our families," Nikolas finished explaining.

"What are we here for? What is there even to do?" Lucas asked, feeling the tension radiating from his pregnant best friend at the prospect of danger. He reached over and grabbed Nadine's hand and squeezed gently, showing his support the best way he knew how.

"We could leave," suggested Alexis, withdrawn and quiet. Her jaw was set as she stared at Laura-Lee and MJ playing quietly in the playpen, thinking of her granddaughter and her own three daughters. As much as loved Sonny, she couldn't involve him in this part of her life. And as much as she loved Sonny, she couldn't leave her girls at risk to Helena.

"Leave?" Sam asked, shocked. "Is that really necessary?"

"She kidnapped Lucky, and we believed him to be dead for a long time." Laura told her daughter-in-law and the rest of the room. "I'd hate to see history repeat itself."

"Helena isn't above hurting anyone in this room because of who they are and which family they belong to," Luke said. "She's a vicious old bat, but she's lethal. She doesn't care who's in her crosshairs as long as she gets what she wants in the end."

"Which is my children under her wing," Nikolas gently said, looking at the frightened face of Maxie Jones as her hand crept over her ever-expanding belly.

"And my whole family swimming with the fishes," Luke added.

"Do you think we should go?" Bobbie asked her brother.

"If you think we should, I'll go. We'll go," Lucky said, looking at his dad then at Sam before gazing at their daughter then looking back to his wife. She shook her head in agreement. She had just found her family. She wasn't going to lose anyone of them because of who her mother was or which family she married into.

"Maybe Cam should go back to Liz's in New York. I know we have him until the summer is up, but --" Sam said, looking at Lucky.

"No, he'd be in just as much danger there. I want him with us."

"Forgive me because I have no idea how dangerous Prince Nikolas' granny is, but don't you think you could try talking to her first. Maybe she isn't after death and destruction like My Blonde One's Father has predicted." Spinelli said, stumbling lightly over his words.

"Helena doesn't talk," Carly threw in, looking at her cousin's bumbling husband with sympathy because he really had no idea what he was in for.

"She bites first and asks questions later," Alexis added.

"Well, Dad, answer Lucky. Is Alexis right? Should we skip town?" Lulu asked.

"Before you guys continue your talk about a feud that should have been over with the 80's, can someone please tell me why my wife, our son, and I are involved?" Patrick stood and wondered aloud.

"Sit down, Patty-Boy. You're a Spencer now. Blame it on your old man. In Helena's eyes, you are just as much of a Spencer as the rest of us." Luke answered with a smirk.

"I thought all Helena was concerned with was bloodlines." Robin threw in, suddenly extremely worried for her husband, her son, and herself. Not to mention her friends.

"All except Spencer bloodlines. Carry the name, carry the feud." Lucky told her with a grim expression on his handsome face.

"Luke, do you think we should go?" Laura asked him, and he met the eyes of his angel. He didn't have to verbally respond. She already knew, and so did Bobbie.

"Well?" Carly asked, impatient as ever.

"Pack your bags, Caroline. I think we should get the hell out of dodge until we sort out the exact purpose of Helena's little visit." Her uncle told her.

"Wait! What if we don't want to go?" Noah asked, knowing his wife would be mad for even doubting her brother's judgment on the Cassadines.

"Then its every man for himself. So…who's going?" Luke asked. "Laura and I are, I know. Lulu, you and loony boy, too. No arguments. Cowboy?"

"We're in," Sam answered for her husband.

"The girls and me, too." Alexis added, grabbing her eldest child's hand. The more she thought about Helena coming back to town, the more she thought about the night her own mother was murdered. She refused to let Sam, Kristina, or Molly deal with witnessing their mother's murder at the hands of Helena. History would not be repeating itself.

"I'm with you. Noah?" Bobbie asked, looking at her husband.

"If you go, I go."

"Good," Luke said. "Sweet Caroline?"

Carly looked at Michael then back at her uncle.

"We're going. Lucas, you and Nadine please come. I couldn't stand it if you stayed."

"Your sister's right, Lucas. We should go," Nadine agreed, thinking of the baby boy in her belly that the outside world thought was a Spencer.

"All right. We'll go." He agreed, looking at his paternal cousin. "Maxie, you --"

"No worries. We are with you in leaving." Nikolas cut him off and answered for her.

"Well, Patrick, it's left to you and Robin. In or out?" Noah asked.

"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? We're in, right, Robin?"

"We're in." She agree, grabbing his hand, initiating touch between them for the first time since their separation.

"All right. It's settled. Adios, Port Chuck!" Luke grinned, reaching for his glass of scotch only to have his hand smacked away by Laura. "I'll make the calls. You know, Spaghetti, having you as a member of the family may come in handy after all."

******

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	5. Carly's In Trouble?

**Chapter Five**

Johnny Zacchara was not happy in the least. His stocks were down two points, his sister was terrorizing Europe instead of home helping him, and Nadine had disappeared about 6:30 last night from the guards he had on her covert detail. He knew she would be so mad to know he was having her followed, but he didn't care. He wanted her safe.

No, actually, he wanted her with him, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. Especially not since she had made it very clear that she planned on raising her son with his father. It had cut Johnny in a place inside of him that he never even knew existed when he found out that baby wasn't his. He had wanted a family with Nadine, and he didn't care who the baby's biological father was.

He loved her more than he'd ever loved anything, and he loved her son because he came from her. It didn't matter that Lucas Jones was that boy's father. It took more than DNA to make a family. Johnny understood that from his lack of one.

Now though… he didn't care about raising the baby with Nadine or even trying to stay in her life. He'd leave and never come back if he could just find her.

Unfortunately, he was going to need a little help, and the PCPD seemed to be his only option. As he walked up the steps to the police station, he was joined by a few other Port Charles citizens. This was going to be an eventful morning at the PCPD. That was no question.

There was Sonny Corinthos, Epiphany Johnson, Edward Quartermaine, Kate Howard, and Jasper Jacks coming in the door, and it peaked Johnny's interest to say the least.

Mac Scorpio and Scott Baldwin look frazzled already, but the sight of the new arrivals caused them to pale further. Everyone began talking at once and arguing back and forth until Officer Harper was forced to wolf whistle to gain their attention.

Soon it was revealed on that dreary Sunday morning that Nadine wasn't the only missing Port Charles citizen. There was a whole passel of them missing.

At the end of a very long morning in a crowded police department as more and more concerned friends, family, and co-workers arrived, there was an official list that was made.

It read:Luke Spencer

Laura Spencer

Lucky Spencer

Sam Spencer

Cameron Webber-Spencer

Laura-Lee Spencer

Lulu Spencer-Spinelli

Damien Spinelli

Noah Drake

Bobbie Drake

Carly Spencer

Michael Corinthos

Morgan Corinthos

Macy Jean Spencer

Lucas Jones

Nadine Crowell

Patrick Drake

Robin Scorpio-Drake

Robbie Scorpio-Drake

Nikolas Cassadine

Maxie Jones

Spencer Cassadine

Alexis Davis-Corinthos

Kristina Corinthos

Molly Lansing

Mac's eyes widened as his head snapped to look at the equally shocked Scott, but before both men could respond, Edward beat them to it.

"Oh my --- ! Every damn Spencer and Cassadine in Port Charles is missing!" The old tycoon grabbed at his chest in sudden shock at what that implied. The long time residents of the waterfront city held their breath as their concern turned to pure terror, and the newer ones just felt out of a loop that was cemented into the Port Charles culture and social understanding.

******************************************

"I'm bored." Maxie said for the eighty-fifth thousand time that morning as Nadine looked at her wristwatch again. Surprisingly, they had only been at the safe house for around three hours. It felt much longer to the young nurse. Luke had deposited Maxie, Nadine, Robin, Patrick, Alexis, Laura, Bobbie, Lucas, Lulu, and Noah there with all of the children. The rest of the adults were out preparing for their permanent residence and supplies and whatever else was needed to pull off this escape plan.

"You're always bored, Maxie." Robin replied, coming back from looking in on the kids. Maxie stuck her tongue out at Robin before going back to naming pieces in this month's issue of Couture Magazine in her mind to keep her busy. Patrick's foot tapped against the table once again, and he looked over at his step-mother.

"I'm worried," Bobbie said. "They've been gone a long time."

"There's nothing to worried about, Bobbie. Helena hasn't even docked yet." Alexis answered, gloomy at best. She felt so guilty for leaving without telling her husband, but how could she? He shouldn't have to deal with the crazy Cassadines. That wasn't what he signed up for when he married her, and Alexis was determined to keep Sonny as far away from Helena's clutches as she could.

"What has you all so spooked this time? This is not the first time that Helena has resurfaced," Patrick asked.

"Yes, Nikolas has told me plenty of stories about his grandmother surfacing in Port Charles, and no one ever ran then," Nadine added to her co-worker's question.

"This time we all have too much too lose while for the first time…Helena truly has nothing," Laura answered bleakly, remembering her days held captive by Helena and her psychotic son, Stavros. They just didn't realize who they were dealing with, and Laura would be damned before that evil bitch touched a hair on her grandchildren's heads. This was the only way that she could ensure that Helena would stay far away from any of the young ones.

Luke had been right. It was fight or flight time, and with children around there really was only one option.

***********************************************

Sonny Corinthos sat in his dark mansion, aching for a glass of whiskey that he knew he couldn't have and praying that his wife and children be found safely. He had left the mob years before but still kept Max and Milo employed on his household staff to make sure his family was protected. Losing his family was his biggest fear, and now not one of them was here to console his breaking heart.

He knew why she hadn't contacted him or involved him with a certainty that the PCPD didn't have. He knew Alexis and his children weren't taken from him. They were in hiding with Luke Spencer, Carly Spencer, and Damien Spinelli. That alone told him that if they didn't want to be found that they wouldn't be.

Alexis had left him behind, but he understood it. Hell, he could even forgive it if she would just come home.

His hand reached for the gun that no longer sat on his right hip as the patio doors opened allowing in enough moonlight to see the outline of a face he had given up on ever seeing again. The moonlight was flooded out by the lamp that the returned man clicked on, and Sonny was sure then that he was having a hallucination.

Jason Morgan couldn't be back in Port Charles. The more Sonny thought about it though it made sense. Carly was among the missing. Of course, Jason would ride back into town on his white horse to save her once again.

"Jason." Sonny acknowledged, accepting that this was just one of those crazy days.

Jason looked at Sonny with a little shock inscribed on his face.

"You don't look surprised to see me."

"Well, whenever Carly's in trouble, it's only a matter of time before you come swooping in," Sonny returned, and Jason's blue eyes hardened.

"Carly's in trouble?"

******************************************

"Ready, Spaghetti?" Luke asked his young son-in-law as they left the home of Luke's contact, securing an estate to house the lot of them. They couldn't separate the families not while both Maxie and Nadine were both pregnant and with so many children between them. Luke snorted. Maybe the damn Spencer/Cassadine bunch needed to invest in some birth control. This was beginning to get ridiculous.

They met up with Sweet Caroline and Samantha about ten miles out with Cowboy and Prince Nikky on their tails. Caroline looked at her scheming uncle and deposited the duffel bag in his lap. Looking at her suspiciously, he slowly unzipped the heavy tote.

And what he saw made him grin.

Money. And it was a Spencer's favorite kind, too. Conned money.

Well, they were almost home free. It was most definitely moving time.

*******************************************

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	6. Scorpio's Return

**I still own nothing!**

Chapter Six

To be honest, all he wanted was to go home. That was the one thing he had wanted for the last three years, and now that he allowed himself to do so…

His home was gone.

Jason had figured out long ago it didn't matter where he was in the world as long as his crazy best friend and her boys were by his side. That was home. She was his home.

To be honest, Carly was the only home Jason Morgan had ever known.

And he had pushed her away, denying anything but their undying friendship for too long. But when he had needed her, she had taken him in and swallowed all of the hate and sorrow that was raging inside of him. She took his pain into herself that night, and he left her.

He couldn't believe he left her there. What an idiot! And now she and the boys were gone, leaving no trail behind them.

All thanks to decisions he had made over a decade ago that led up to the ones he made three years ago.

Jason sat up straighter, ignoring the equally hurting man next to him. Sonny didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was Carly and their family.

If they still had one.

Beside Jason, Sonny was quiet. Alone in his own thoughts, guilt eating at him for not telling Jason an important fact about the woman he was worrying over, and Sonny's mind was churning with a sudden race of information at how Jason had returned and his behavior. After all, he had never asked Carly the actual question.

Who was MJ's father?

"How do you two wanna go about this?" The intruder's voice rang out like a clap of thunder on a sunny day, and both men looked up alarmed.

Robert Scorpio.

The aging spy leaned comfortably against the door of Sonny's living room, obviously having bypassed all security systems.

"Spinelli is fired whenever I find him," murmured Sonny under his breath as he and Jason stood to greet the man they both knew as Robin's absentee father. Robert watched the men his daughter called close friends and exhaled at the meagerness at what he had been given to work with on such short notice. His light blue eyes twinkled at the thought of another adventure involving Luke Spencer despite the danger to his own daughter and the young namesake he'd never met.

"I'm Robert Scorpio, but, of course, you both already know that. My brother contacted me about 9 hours ago with the news that my kid and grandson had run off with the likes of Luke Spencer like something or someone was after them." He stepped closer to the ex-mobsters and surveyed them for what they were worth. "He also said that you were the man to see about helping me get them back or at least locate them before the enemy does. Mr. Morgan is just an added bonus."

"So…you want to find them after Luke Spencer is the one that hid them? It's impossible," Sonny replied.

"Maybe, maybe not. You in or out?"

Some men waited for things to happen, but men like Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan took fate into their own hands. They tried to make things happen, and so of course, they agreed to go along with Robin's dad in a half-ass attempt to locate the missing Cassadines and Spencers.

"Good," Robert quipped, tucking his hands in his pockets and turning to walk out the door. "Now we just have to go and meet with my partner."

"Partner?" Sonny and Jason both chimed.

*******************************************

Johnny Zacchara had sold his soul to the devil a few times over by now. His urge to lean off of skyscrapers and wreck special edition Lamborghinis fed his insatiable desire to feel if only for a moment. He stomped through life from the second he was born doing anything and everything he could to make a mark, but there was nothing out there for him. Even as the only son of Anthony Zacchara, Johnny was invisible. It was like he was standing in a crowded room screaming his head off and no one even looked up from their dinner plates.

For the longest time, he had been the Zacchara heir, Claudia's demented half-brother, Trevor's ace in the hole, and Lulu's lap dog. He couldn't even see them all look right past him.

Until Nadine met him head on, ready for whatever came their way. She was everything he had never known, and he had fell madly in love with her before she had ever given the second look as more than a friend. She was his daylight when he had always hid in the shadows.

And now here he was with this complete stranger he didn't even know the name of, waiting on his "partner" to come so they could go find they woman Johnny was in love with despite the fact she was pregnant by another man and had left of her own accord.

His mother had always said that love made you do crazy things.

Looking at the man sitting across from him again, he felt an odd since of familiarity. He had a strong jaw-bone and shaggy dirty blonde hair that had just begun to gray, and his eyes…

Sad and weary as though they may be, they were laughing at him. The sapphire orbs shined back into the dark night, and Johnny knew he knew those eyes from somewhere.

The man didn't say a word as a black SUV drove into the warehouse they were waiting in through the loading garage, and out walked Morgan, Corinthos, and another old man with laughing eyes.

They all barely acknowledged him, but for once, Johnny was happy to be invisible. He carefully watched as Jason and Sonny both looked at the man who had brought him here.

"I know you," Sonny said. "You are Maxie Jones' dad. Frisco, I think. Robin has pictures of you."

Frisco flinched slightly at the name of the daughter he hadn't seen in twenty years, but nodded his head, assuring the ex-crime boss of the correct identity. Johnny snorted, wondering how he could have missed it. Maxie was the spitting image of her glorified spy daddy.

Well, this was going to be interesting. Or so Johnny thought as he stepped out of the shadows.

*****************************************

Nadine's stomach lurched as she watched Sam and Carly practice putting rounds into a dummy behind the secluded safe house Luke had secured somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

"I'm next," Maxie said. "I need to vent some of my frustration. Do you know how hard it is to get laid when there's 20 some-odd people sharing a house?"

"The hell you are," Robin intervened, forever the mother goose. "Maxie, you're pregnant. You can't just go off to the firing range. I'm not even really comfortable with you and Nadine even being out here."

"Put a sock in it, Robin. I've had three children, and being pregnant has never stopped me from using a gun when I need to, okay?" Carly bit back, reloading the shiny gun Lucky had given her after the Metro-Court hostage crisis.

"That doesn't mean it's safe. That means you're lacking brain cells." Robin responded.

"Well, whatever it means, I need to put a few rounds in something before Floolu and I go another round inside the house, okay?" Maxie said, earning a hard look from Carly who adored her little cousin.

"That would be something. She'd beat your pregnant ass," Sam said, snickering to herself.

"Oh, shut up before I pull out your hair extensions," Maxie smiled back to her best friend.

"Whatever. I'm still pissed that Luke dumped us at this hellhole with the understanding that everyone is in hiding, and then he took off with my husband and goes God knows where to do God knows what!" Sam exploded.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. There's strength in numbers." Robin agreed.

"Yeah, but if anyone knows how to handle Helena, it's Luke and Lucky, right?" Nadine asked.

"Yeah, my uncle makes a sport out of trying to kill that old bat." Carly laughed.

"Well, obviously, he isn't very good."

* * *

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	7. Take Me Flying, Nikolas

Chapter Seven

Maxie Jones looked in the mirror of the cramped room she shared with her fiancé at the Podunk little farmhouse Luke had abandoned them in. Somehow, she had always thought being on the run would be more glamorous. Running her small hands along her swelled belly she felt the life move underneath her red, manicured nails. She stifled a laugh at rambunctious behavior of her unborn baby girl as she turned flips and kicked like crazy.

But who was she to judge her baby on rambunctious behavior? Especially when she was standing stark naked in front of a mirror while she was six months pregnant.

Maxie turned slowly as she heard the door squeak open. She knew who it was, and she had no desire to hide from him.

Nikolas' sable eyes widened at the sight before him before common sense set in for the dashing prince. Quickly, he closed the door and then turned back to his lover.

"What are you doing? What if that hadn't been me?" He questioned, walking toward her, thinking about the way of propriety and manners he'd been taught as a boy. The lustful look on Maxie's face as she reached out to him let him know that she wasn't interested in lectures tonight.

Her hand gently skimmed over the stubble along his tightened jaw as his breath quickened, but Nikolas tried to fight the desire rising inside of him. No one had ever made the dark and calculated Prince Nikolas become as unhinged as this woman did with just a touch.

"Maxie, I -- There's people everywhere. What if the kids hear?"

"They won't hear. Your mom has a whole camping thing organized out back for the kids. They won't hear," She repeated, rising on her tiptoes to place her coral-colored lips over his Adam's apple, sucking ever so slightly. Nikolas could feel his resolve crumble all around him as his palms itched to touch his nude fiancée as she stood before him, trying her damnedest to seduce him.

"Maxie, we can't do --" Nikolas murmured even as his large hands swooped down to her behind, lifting her up into his arms.

"Now that's more like it, Cassadine." Maxie said, licking her lips before bringing him into a passionate kiss.

"Oh, what the hell." He whispered into her mouth, causing her to smile as his lips moved to her neck. She could feel BJ's heart quicken at the mere anticipation of being with this man for the rest of whatever life she had, and Maxie knew that for once she had it right. This man who knew how to cook her eggs and which spots to kiss to make her quiver. He was the right guy for her.

Her shaking hands removed Nikolas of the suit that was out of place at their humble hideout. As her hot mouth kissed the valley between his pecks, Nikolas inhaled sharply, rolling them over so that she was underneath his muscular physique.

As his fingers rolled over her belly heading toward the aching place between her legs, Maxie held the intense eyes of her lover.

"Take me flying, Nikolas."

****************************************

"Penny for your thoughts," Patrick said as he came out on the back porch to find his wife gazing up at the stars as the older kids played kickball in the dusky light of nightfall. Robin gently turned to him as she shifted her position in the swing to allow him room to sit.

The crickets chirped and the children played loudly, but the silence between Robin and Patrick was deafening. For the first time since she'd known him, Robin didn't know how to act or who to be around her husband. She felt trapped and scared and alone.

It wasn't Helena that scared her. It was being alone with Patrick with no escape plan.

"I don't know. I was thinking about Sundays."

"Sundays?" He asked.

"Yeah, Sundays before everything … hit the fan. Sundays, you would hold me in bed for hours, and I felt so safe," Her voice began to crack. "I just want to feel that safe again."

"Robin…"

"I don't want to have this conversation, Patrick. Just let it be." Robin wiped her eyes and looked away from him.

"Just answer me this, Robin. Do you miss me like I miss you?"

************************************************

"Sleep, Baby. Mama's got you," Sam cooed to the sleeping girl in her arms. The moonlight cascaded through the window so vividly that Sam didn't even need to turn on Laura-Lee's night light. Not that she would need it tonight. Being on the run from Cassadines had worn the youngest Spencer out.

"Hey. Is my grandbaby asleep?" The original Laura Spencer softly said from the door. Sam looked up and nodded before placing Laura-Lee gently in the crib before checking the one next to it, seeing if MJ still dreamed sweet dreams.

"So…where do you think Luke took my husband?" Sam asked her mother-in-law, crossing her arms, annoyed greatly.

"Knowing my husband? I couldn't even narrow it down to a continent."

"How do you do it? I'm going out of my head knowing Lucky's pulling a Luke, and you're married to the original Luke."

"Patience is a virtue I've learned to endure."

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	8. Superman vs Clark Kent

Chapter Eight

At the kitchen table of the large farmhouse sat Lucas, Noah, Alexis, and Patrick. Each held a handful of cards and on the table lay potato chips instead of poker chips. The sound of screaming children barely reached their ears as Lulu and Spinelli supervised the camp-out much to his delight and her terror.

"Look out, boys. It looks like you're all about to be beaten by a girl!" Alexis laughed lightly raking up the Doritos as the men groaned. Being married to Sonny Corinthos had taught the attorney a thing or two about gambling.

"You have to be cheating." Patrick grumbled, hating to lose at anything. Much like Alexis herself.

"Get over it, Dr. Drake. You just got your ass handed to you." Alexis said with a smug grin that the egotistical doctor hated desperately.

"As much fun as playing Texas Hold 'em with Doritos is, I would like to know where Luke and Lucky have gone. I'd also like to know what the plan is." Lucas cut in, looking at Alexis for a straight answer that no one else seemed interested in giving him.

"There is no plan. Luke is flying by the seat of his pants like he always does." Noah snorted, the disdain for his brother-in-law clear to the others in the room.

"There's always a strategy in dealing with my step-mother, Noah. What Luke's is…he didn't tell me and I have no idea what he could be thinking, but I trust him to make the right calls. I have three daughters, grandchildren, and my nephew's family to worry about. He made the right call. We made the right call."

"Well, what could Helena want from us?" Patrick said.

"I don't know. Luke's head mounted on the dining room wall at Wyndemere is probably a good place to start guessing." Alexis joked.

"I know he's not afraid of her. He's afraid for the kids and Laura and the rest of us." Lucas said, still young enough to think of his quirky uncle as somewhat of a superhero.

"Maybe so." Alexis replied, not knowing the true answer herself. Lucas nodded before getting up and walking off. Noah followed behind his step-son, and Alexis herself stood up. She looked at the youngest Dr. Drake as he pensively sat with his arms crossed, engrossed in inward thought. She sighed and ruffled his hair before stepping outside to check on her two youngest children, turning off the light in the kitchen to leave him to his thoughts.

How did he end up here? A few years ago, he had no one. All he wanted was a fantastic career and an endless string of no-name sex with beautiful women who never called. When had that stopped being enough?

Here he was. The world famous womanizer with no family to speak of was in a house full of people that mattered to him including the son who thought he hung the moon and the wife that owned his soul.

He had hurt her though in a way he had never thought he could. It was a mistake. Liz and he both had been drinking. She was a friend to both of them. It hadn't been at all awkward to be alone in the house with her. He still didn't understand how he could have gone there.

It had all started at work when he and Elizabeth had scrubbed in on a craniotomy, and the five-year-old had died on the table. Both were so shaken up because of their own little boys at home. They just wanted to take the edge off, so Patrick opened up a bottle of vodka. The rest, they say, is history.

All he remembered was laughing hysterically with Liz, and the next thing he knew his wife was looking at him … like he was Clark Kent. She used to look at him like he was Superman.

**************************************

Johnny's deep eyes widened at the man before him. When the hell had Morgan come back to town?

"Well, now that we're all here…" Frisco's voice trailed off as he looked to Robert to take over the explanation. No way would these Mob boys be able to hack the spies usual need-to-know only way of handing out information.

"We wait." Robert said, calmly.

Sonny's eyebrows rose. What did that old man mean by wait? Sonny wasn't waiting anymore. When he thought there was nothing to be done about his wife and ex-wife disappearing with his kids, he was calm. Now that he knew he had resources… well, it was an entirely different ballgame.

Jason, on the other hand, was as cool as ever. He knew that Robert hadn't come for no reason. He would reveal himself in time, as would Frisco.

Johnny stood up straighter, anger overcoming his rational side. How dare these people come into his home, practically take him hostage, and then tell him to wait to find Nadine?

It just wasn't happening.

"Screw waiting." Johnny said with a dark note to his voice. Pulling his gun, he aimed it at Robert. "I want answers now, Scorpio."

"Cool your jets, man. All will be revealed in due time," Robert said, hands up to try and reason with the boy.

"No, I've had a fucking rough year, and I'm tired of waiting around for things to happen. It's time I made them happen." Johnny took a shaky breath. "Now…why the hell are we here? Or better yet…why are you here?"

Before Johnny even knew what was going on, he was on the ground with his gun across the warehouse floor at the feet of Jason Morgan. On his back, however, stood one Frisco Jones.

"He said, 'We wait.' So we wait. You calm now?"

"I told you we should have killed him three years ago," Sonny said under his breathe to Jason.

Johnny stood slowly as Frisco smiled easily with his own gun pointed at the unarmed hothead.

"We know you're worried, boy, and you're young, so listen up." Robert said. "The only way to find Luke when he's gone into hiding is to let him come to you."

***********************************************

"Hey, Baby girl." Bobbie said as she walked into Caroline Leigh's room to find her daughter looking at an old picture, crying silently. She didn't have to ask who it was of because Bobbie already knew. It was the same damn man Carly had always cried over.

Jason Morgan.

"Mama, I miss him so much." Carly began to sob, and Bobbie ran over and scooped her grown baby into her arms, holding her close.

"I know you do. What brought this on?"

"Michael looks so much like him when we were younger. He even acts like him sometimes, and MJ - she's his own baby, and he doesn't know. Hell, no one does except for my brothers, Noah, you, and the girls."

"Ah, the diamonds." Bobbie smiled at the nickname for the five best friends. "Want me to go get one of them?"

"No, they don't understand." Carly said. "Loving Jason is apart of me I wish I could let go of, Mama. I just don't know how not to love him."

************************************

"Hello, Noble Nurse Nadine. How is the sweet expecting one this evening?" Spinelli asked as he came up to the piano Nadine sat on the bench of, staring at the ivory keys.

"I'm fine, Spinelli. The baby's kicking. Wanna feel?"

"NO!" He jumped back about two feet with the color draining from his face. "No, thanks, but the Jackal wouldn't like to feel feet coming from the Noble Nurse's abdomen. Maybe next time!"

He yelled the last part out as he ran out of the door, sending Nadine into tremendous giggles. Lucas came in with a glass of milk for his best friend.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing. Sit with me. I'll tell you a story." She said, pressing keys like children do: one at a time.

"You're thinking about Johnny?"

"Shut up! You'll ruin my story, Lucas." She told him, smiling. "There once was a girl who had a beautiful, but lonely life. She had a gorgeous hunk-of-a-best friend and four women who had become her family. She worked with children all day, helping them get well from different diseases. All in all, she was content. But she still felt like something was missing, and then one day…there was a man."

"Let me guess…he rode in on a white horse?"

"No, a black Roadster."

"And they fell madly in love?"

"Yes, they did."

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	9. The Weakest Gazelle

Chapter Nine

With the morning came more worry from the adults and more playfulness from the children. Sam sat alone on the porch, drinking the herbal tea that Lucky hated and thinking about her family. She tried to be the best mom, wife, and step-mom in the world all while overseeing the Cassadine docks under her cousin, Nikolas.

It was all so perfect. So, of course, Sam was waiting for the bottom to fall out from under her.

Lucky always wondered why she bothered waiting on something bad to happen, and Sam always answered because something always does.

"Morning, Fair Samantha." Spinelli stumbled quietly from the house, wiping sleep from his eyes with a small grin at his first friend besides the ever-elusive Stone Cold. The young man hadn't spent much time with his sister-in-law in the past few years, but he could still read her like an open book.

And she was two seconds away from taking Cam and Laura-Lee and bolting from Luke's little house on the prairie.

"Fair Samantha, are you okay? I could go get the Valkyrie or even the Mother Goddess if you want."

"No, Spinelli. Don't. I'm fine. I just -- I hate being treated like a woman." Sam spat violently as she stood up and crossed her arms. Who the hell did Lucky think he was, leaving her behind to go carousing around the world with his father? They were a damn team. He was supposed to take her with him to chase the bad guys. Or in this case, Nikolas' crazy grandmother.

"My fair Samantha, My Blonde One's Brother means no harm to his lovely Goddess-Wife. He wants to protect you." Spinelli stumbled over his words lightly, sitting to avoid the pacing brunette as she stomped around, mad at the world.

"Well, he can throw that idea straight out the window. I don't need my damn husband to take care of me, Spinelli. I need him to love me."

**********************************************

"What do you mean that my grandson is missing?" Helena spat at Andreas, sitting straighter in the Victorian chair on her luxurious yacht about 5 miles offshore from Port Charles itself. It was finally time. Time to make the Spencers pay for once and for all.

However, it seemed having Luke blacklisted from every member of the underground world hadn't kept him from her intentions. He had run off with his brood, Natasha, and Nikolas.

That was simply unacceptable. She would simply have to find them and make their suffering that much more intolerable. This never would have happened had Stavros been alive to take care of their enemies.

"I'm sorry, Madam. We tried our best to locate your grandson, but our efforts were futile." The man said, reserved and quiet and desperate to be dismissed as to miss the rage the news would inevitably send the aging matriarch into without any doubt.

"You have failed me, Andreas." Helena's wicked eyes held a gleam Andreas had never witnessed before on her, and he didn't like it one bit.

"It won't happen again." Andreas promised, unconsciously moving toward the door. His palms were already damp and his forehead was quickly catching up from his nerves taking hold of him.

"No, it won't." Helena agreed and quickly she pulled the antique revolver out from her lap and shot her employee in the heart, killing him instantly for failing her.

******************************************

Luke surveyed the room like a cheetah looking for the weakest gazelle, and he spotted his mark almost immediately.

"What the hell are we doing here? Seriously… I think you're losing it in your old age." Lucky said, sitting at the bar. His foot tapped nervously against the aged bar stool as his hard pounded in rhythm. Complain as he may, he knew his father was on his game. Most of the time. Lucky just wasn't sure if he was willing to bet the house on it.

"Bite your tongue, Cowboy. That's who we're here for," Luke pointed toward the back corner of the smoky bar, and Lucky spun around to get a look for himself.

He hadn't seen Felicia Jones - or was it Scorpio?- since the winter of 2007 when Georgie had been murdered by the Text Message Killer. In the tight leather pants with big, blonde hair, Lucky wasn't sure if he was looking at the woman who used to host block parties and drive around carpools for her daughters while they were in school.

Luke, on the other hand, knew good and well that the ex-housewife of Mac Scorpio was no man's little woman. She pulled her own punches, and with his trademark smirk and double scotch, he watched her play the Russian drug lord in the dingy Las Vegas bar without breaking a sweat.

"Felicia?" Lucky said in disbelief. "That's not who I was expecting. Especially not in bar at 9 AM."

"Don't underestimate my generation, son. You'll wind up surprised every time." Luke said, downing his drink and started to make his way over to Felicia. After all, stirring the pot was one of his favorite pastimes.

Getting in a little time annoying his ex-lover before whisking her off to help him finish Helena for once and for all wasn't too much to ask for in Luke's opinion.

But before he could take two good steps away from the bar, he felt a prick in his neck, and everything faded to nothing.

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	10. Trading the WSB for the Mob

Chapter Ten

"Good morning, Lover." Maxie said as she rolled Nikolas over, straddling his waist and wearing nothing but an old, ratty T-shirt he knew belonged to Mac many, many years ago that read The Outback after Mac's old nightclub. Her sweet face held no make-up and her hair was mussed, and that was how Nikolas liked her best because he knew that no one else got to see her like this. With everyone she held up her guard with make-up and 4 inch Stilettos, but with him, she was just herself.

"Oh, my God. What time is it?" Nikolas asked, stretching his arms before wrapping them around her shoulders, pulling her to him as closely as her baby bump would allow.

"Almost 11. Looks like I wore you out last night, Cassadine." She smirked whole-heartedly, even though inwardly hers was breaking. How long would this dream last? Her eyes clouded over with emotion. The doctor had said her pregnancy was fine. It had been her heart that would fail her. That wasn't new. Her real heart as well as her borrowed one had always come up lacking.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asked, holding her tighter against his chest, burying his mouth against her collar bone, tasting the sweet taste that was Maxie Jones.

"Nothing. Nothing. I am just worried about Luke and Lucky."

"They aren't back yet?" He questioned, rolling them over so that she was underneath him, continually kissing her neck. Maxie's unshed tears suddenly were interchanged with arousal and desire, and she could feel every pound of her borrowed heart as he lifted his head to stare into her sapphire eyes with his intense sable ones.

"I don't want to talk about your brother and his father." She panted as his fingers grazed over her sides, slowly lifting the T-shirt from her pastel skin. His full mouth smirked at her panting state as he returned his tongue and lips to her sweet skin.

"No, I didn't think so." Nikolas told her in between placing light kisses along her collar bone before finally raising himself to rid her of the only clothing she had on.

He stopped then with his own breath quickening and his chiseled chest rising urgently, and he looked at her. He really looked at her. She stilled underneath him and looked back.

What Maxie saw scared her to no end. This man loved her with passion and desire that others ached for in their lifetimes. Anyone can love out loud, but Nikolas loved her quietly with more ardor than she'd ever known. As she stared back at him, she took something away that only two people in love could understand.

His eyes told her stories of years to come and a love that would rival anything that came against it.

He had loved before her. That was no secret. They both had buried lovers on more than one occasion. But Emily and Jesse and Courtney and Coop, their love was all-consuming. Things like that can't last forever.

But their love was steady and loyal and endless.

*******************************************

Carly walked into the nursery her youngest shared with Laura-Lee Spencer and lifted the blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby girl into her arms. She always knew that she and Jason would have the most beautiful baby girl. She just never thought it would've turned out like this. Jason was God-knows-where, and here she was wrapped up in one of her Uncle Luke's plots.

They were supposed to grow old together. Even as she married Sonny, Lorenzo, and Jax, she always thought that she and Jason were supposed to grow old together.

They were supposed to have the life she always wanted. They were going to raise Michael, Morgan, and MJ in a house with a friggin' white picket fence and be happy about it.

Or at least that was the plan.

But Jason would be the first person to say that Carly's plans never work out.

"Your daddy would be so surprised to see you, my angel." Carly whispered to the toddler. MJ just went along wiping her sleepy eyes as Carly gently tried to wake her for the day. She definitely got her sleeping habits from the Spencers.

"Yes, he would, my girl. And he would pick you up, and he would love you. I miss him so much sometimes. But I miss him even more when I look into your eyes, Macy Jean, because they are his and his are Lila's. It's amazing Edward didn't take one look at you and demand visitation." Carly laughed throughout the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.

"But he didn't and life went on." Carly said, tears falling freely now. "The girls know and Mama and Noah and Uncle Lucas and Uncle Patrick. When I told Aunt Robin, I was half-hoping she'd repeat history and go running her mouth about who your daddy is, but the one time I want her to be honest…she keeps my secret. She always was useless like that."

"Nice, Carly." Robin guffawed, unaffected by her step-sister-in-law's story. She'd walked in on the same scene too many times to count. But this was Carly's life. She'd be damned before she made the same mistake with MJ that she had made with Michael.

"Oh, shut up. Talk to my brother yet?"

"Hit me where it hurts why don't you?" Robin said, leaning against the wall. Somehow the country had this quiet effect on all of them. She didn't like it at all. It allowed too much time for personal reflection.

"I didn't spend all those years hating your guts for nothing, did I?" Carly replied.

**************************************

Knowing she was going to be a mother was one thing, but every time that baby moved inside of her, Nadine felt it in her heart. And every time Lucas' hand brushed over the swell of her belly, Nadine was consumed with guilt. How did she get here?

Her best friend was masquerading as her baby's father while her baby's father was living like a dead man at Crimson Manor.

She hadn't seen him in over a month now, but their conversation was still fresh in her memory. He had told her he loved her, that he didn't care who her son's father was, and that no one would ever be what he was to her.

What pissed her off was the fact that he was right along with the fact he was her baby's father. Nadine still didn't know how she had ended up here.

It was just one lie and then another and then another, and then all of a sudden her whole life was a lie.

"Hello," Alexis said, walking into the room off the kitchen to find Nurse Crowell sitting at the piano, staring blankly at the keys.

"Can I ask you a question, Ms. Davis?" Nadine asked quietly.

"Of course," Alexis said, sitting on the couch facing the piano, concern written on her face.

"I'm a liar. How do I get out of it?" Nadine inhaled. "I'm pregnant by a man I'm insanely in love with and I have my best friend masquerading as my baby's father. That's my big secret. What do I do?"

"I tried that once. I just ended up married to him almost a decade later, and all my great reasons for separating my daughter from her father went down the drain anyway. Come clean. That's my advice."

****************************************

Luke could feel eyes on him before he ever opened his. The last thing he remembered was heading over to Felicia in that little bar in Vegas. Cowboy was there. Where was Lucky? And what about Felicia? Had she been made?

"He's squirming. He's awake. Get your ass up, Spencer!" rang the familiar voice of Robert Scorpio. It was then Luke felt like he was in the twilight zone.

"Scorpio? What the hell?" Luke said, sitting up and opening his eyes to see Felicia and Cowboy still out beside him with Robert, Frisco, Sonny, Jason, and that damn Zacchara boy staring at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Luke." Frisco said, looking at his old friend for the first time in over 15 years.

"Nice crew. You two trade in the WSB for the mob?"

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	11. Love and In Love

Chapter Eleven

"Answer me, Scorpio. You and Frisco trade in the spy life for that of a mob henchmen?" Luke bellowed, standing up. The five men staring at him winced accordingly, but Felicia and Lucky never bothered to move. Despite their lack of reaction, Frisco Jones sent Luke a nasty look.

"Quiet, Spencer. I'm trying to delay the reunion with my wife for as long as possible."

"FRISCO!!!" Felicia yelled, sitting straight up, looking at the men all around her and Lucky still passed out on the floor.

"Oh, shit," Frisco said under his breath as Felicia leaped to her feet with a grace no woman in stilettos should possess and advanced on her absentee ex-husband.

"Frisco, what the hell? Where am I? What the hell is going on? Why are the local mobsters here? Are you in with the mob?" Felicia bombarded him with questions, jerking up the closest thing she could find which was an old towel on the floor and proceeded to beat him with it.

"She hasn't changed a damn bit," Luke chuckled to himself, looking at Jason before shifting his eyes to Sonny in question. Sonny shook his head slightly, indicating that they would talk later.

Luke didn't like it one bit, but it would stay. The fighting Jones', on the other hand, would not.

"Now…Felicia, don't be mad." Frisco said, sputtering as he swatted away the towel from his face, but his Aztec princess kept swinging. Her eyes were wide with a fury that he still longed for despite years of separation and many other lovers. No one could ever be her or give him what she had given him.

Or take away what she had taken.

His heart.

"Mad? Mad!? Mad left the building a long time ago! What the hell am I doing here? Where is here? I told you after Geor-Georgie's funeral…I never wanted to see you ever again." She took a fiery, tear-filled breath, slinging the towel across the room. "But here you are."

"But here I am."

"What'd I miss?" Lucky's voice flooded the silence around him as he sat up, blinking his eyes at the sight before him.

"Wake up, Cowboy. You've already missed the good stuff. Now, Robert and Frisco were just about to explain why they're parading around with the mob boys and kidnapping us!"

**************************************

"Hi," Nadine simply greeted as she walked outside to see Lucas sitting on the porch steps, his knees pulled to his chest, his eyes pensive. She looked him up and down before gracelessly sitting down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I love you. But you know that already, don't you?" He said, wringing his hands in front of him. Peering out over the backyard that he had longed for as a child, Lucas could feel her looking at him, and he hated it.

"Yes." Nadine simply answered, tears welling up in her bright blue eyes as she clung closer to his arm, hoping for the physical connection because she could feel the emotional one slipping away.

"But you don't love me, do you? You're still in love with him." His words were stoic and unfeeling, and so not her best friend. Tears began to pour wildly from her eyes as she held onto his arm for dear life.

"Oh, Lucas, I do love you. I just--"

"You're not in love with me." He shrugged her off his arm, never looking back. "I get it."

He walked away leaving her there on the porch, sobbing uncontrollably. What had she done, getting them into this?

*****************************************

"Hello, Doctor Drake. Wanna give me a physical?" Bobbie said, brown eyes wide as she relished in all the danger of groping her husband in the middle of the day in a usually busy kitchen. Noah smiled, never moving from washing the dishes as Bobbie pressed her chest to his back and her hands wandered around him.

"Careful, Nurse Spencer. Our kids might hear you and sue for emotional trauma."

"Or worse. The grandkids." Bobbie whispered back to him in the same voice Morgan used when he was unsuccessfully trying to keep a secret.

"Yeah, couldn't you just see the look on Michael's face?" Noah laughed.

"Yeah, but you never answered my question, Doctor Drake. Wanna give me a physical?"

"Anytime, Barbara Jean. Anytime." Noah answered, swiveling around to kiss her, wrapping his soapy hands throughout her wild, red curls.

************************************

Patrick could feel her before he could see her, and he prepared himself for yet another lecture at the hands of his evil step-sister. When Noah married Bobbie, he would've paid for Robin and Carly to be able to get along. Now he was willing to pay to bring Carly back over to the dark side, his side.

He missed her in his corner.

A long time ago, when all women were the same to him, he had marked her as his equal. Someone who knew the game and made no apologies for playing it. Despite their brief intentions to be lovers, they knew they were better matched as confidantes and later siblings.

He didn't have many friends, and he walked into her life at a time when she needed one. He had her back along with their younger brother Lucas. And now it felt like she'd turned on him.

"Quit sulking. You'll get frown lines." Carly said as she plopped down beside her step-brother on the ugly, floral couch in the living room of the farmhouse. One thing could be said for Luke, he always picked a hideout with some character.

Patrick gave her a hard look out of the corner of his eye, ignoring her bait.

"I'm not here to preach at you, Patrick.""Really? Because that would be a change."

"I'm sorry, but Saint Liz Webber? Ugh! It makes me want to buy you antiseptic."

"You buy Jason antiseptic?"

"Nice one. Right to the jugular. Make you feel any better?"

"Not really.""Didn't think so," Carly shook her head. Of all people in the world, why did he have to do the dirty with little Lizzie Webber? She could've justified just about anyone else. Hell, she did justify it to Robin. She just couldn't do it to herself.

"I said I'm sorry. I was drunk. I had lost a kid on the table. I don't know what else to do, Carly."

"Be patient. You're her knight-in-shining-whatever. She'll come around."

************************************

"Our husbands still haven't showed back up. You might not mind, but this is beginning to play on my last nerve." Sam placed her hands on her hips as her mother-in-law sat on a blanket underneath a tree, watching Morgan trying to tag out Cameron and Spencer. The kids were in love with all of the great outdoors. Sam wanted to go back to the concrete jungle or at least the water. She hadn't even seen a pond for miles.

"You'll learn. Lucky's not like Luke. You won't have to go traipsing off to parts unknown or be on the run all the time. Luke does it for fun. It's part of who he is. I can accept it. Lucky's just backing him up. They'll be back soon. Then we'll both have them right where we want them…wrapped around our pinky fingers."

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	12. Knievel's Next Stunt

Chapter Twelve

"We kidnapped you because you kidnapped my wife and children, Luke. That's unacceptable!" Sonny yelled at his former business partner. His dark eyes were ablaze with a temper most people knew to be deadly. How dare Luke act so cavalier about the disappearance of over twenty people that he organized?

"I didn't kidnap anybody! We're on vacation. Look it up, Sonny. You might have heard of it. People with nine-to-five jobs get them every once in awhile where you go places with your family. It isn't like your kind of vacations though. We don't swim with fishes," Luke said, taking out a cigar from his shirt pocket, looking for a lighter.

Sonny Corinthos was the least of his worries. He had to find out what Morgan knew about Sweet Caroline and her brood. He had to find out what Sonny himself knew about the Helena situation before Natasha blew a gasket. He had to find a way to keep Robert from finding out about his son-in-law's little mishap of sticking his wick where it didn't belong. He had to find a way to avoid Felicia and Frisco finding out about their eldest's bun in the oven. He had to make sure Mac and Frisco didn't end up within ten miles of each other. Most importantly, he had to get Cowboy back before his little woman came looking for them.

He had entirely too much to do!

"Dammit, Luke. Where the hell is Alexis and my kids? I'm their father. I want to know where they are…"

"Aw, shut up! I ain't concerned with you. Cowboy, let's go." Luke lit the cigar and motioned for his son to follow. Lucky jerked the cigar from his father's mouth, stomping it out.

"I want to know what you all think you're fixing to accomplish by kidnapping my dad, Felicia, and me." Lucky asked. "We have more important things to worry about than your egos about your women."

"We're going to help you." Robert answered.

"We don't need your help." Luke replied with a hard look.

"You came to Felicia." Frisco returned.

"I want her help. Not yours. Not any of yours." Luke told him. "So if you'll excuse me."

He started toward the door and Frisco was gearing to hit him with another sedative when the quiet Jason Morgan stepped in. Jason's cold blue eyes settled on Luke's lively ones, gripping the older man's arm desperately.

"Morgan, I don't have time for this."

"I need to see Carly."

"I can't take you with me, Jason." Luke said, rarely sincere and feeling for the younger man with the unfortunate luck to be forever fixated on Sweet Caroline. He would've laughed if it hadn't been so heart-breaking. After all these years, the poor SOB was still head over heels in love with his niece.

"I'm not asking, Luke. You're taking me to Carly. Now."

**************************************

"Let's start at the beginning. You told MY MOTHER that your baby isn't Lucas'?" Sam asked Nadine again as the Diamonds sat in a circle on Carly's bed. Nadine was slumped against the headboard with a tear-stained face and a broken heart. Maxie held her hand and thanked God for big favors for sending her Nikolas. Carly and Robin sat idly at the foot of the bed, quietly letting Sam rant as she paced the floor.

"Yes, I told her." Nadine said yet again.

"You know that the game's over now, right?" Sam told her, half-terrified for her friend and half-mad that Nadine didn't fall in love with Lucas and join the extended Spencer clan.

"Not necessarily. I might could make this work." Carly said, a plan forming. Robin groaned at the sight of wheels turning in the blonde beauty's head.

"Oh, stop planning your next stunt, Knievel. The jig's up." Maxie warned, but Carly didn't hear her. She just stared out the window with a faraway look in her eyes and a smile that grew by the second.

"I don't like this." Sam said, her pacing subsided by her fear of the Carly she felt coming on for the entire group.

"Me either," Maxie agreed, despite the fact she was known for having Carly moments herself. "Carly, this isn't going to work."

"Of course, it is. All we have to do is fake Alexis out. Here's what we'll do…" Carly began, knowing that to keep up this lie was to further hurt the entire family when they found out the truth. She didn't care because in her perfect Carly world, they would never know.

In her perfect Carly world, Nadine would remain with her brother and raise that baby.

"NO!" Nadine screamed angrily despite the tears running down her cheeks. All four of her friends looked at her like she was crazy, especially Carly.

"Nadine…" Carly began, trying to make her understand the reasoning behind the inclusion of a Carly plan.

"No, you guys, this is my mess. I'll clean it up."

"My brother. I'm involved whether you like it or not." Carly told her, not backing down.

"Carly, Lucas is a grown-ass man! He doesn't need his big sister to take care of him." Nadine forcefully told the older blonde. "It's my mess. It's time I stood up for myself instead of letting everyone else do it for me. I was the one to chicken to tell Johnny the truth, that I didn't want him in our son's life. I was the one who let Lucas volunteer to be my baby's daddy. I was the one who let Robin doctor the amnio. This is my mess! I have to be the one to clean it up. Johnny and Lucas --- I've ruined their lives and quite possibly my son's."

"Lucas knew what he was getting into," admitted Robin. "So did I."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You make the rest of us look like saints. I mean, at least your baby was real." Maxie said with an easy shrug, causing the rest of the room to shake their heads in laughter and awe of her.

*****************************************

Dmitri Kohl had been working for the Cassadines for years, but this was the first time his job had taken him to the Midwest. The fields and the family-oriented lifestyle was beginning to negate on his nerves. He was ready to complete this mission and return to the Greek Island with his Madam's present waiting for her.

Yes, he would be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams when he delivered the Spencers to Helena's doorstep, and he could hardly wait.


End file.
